Ivy Lee facts for kids
Ivy Ledbetter Lee (born July 16, 1877 – died November 9, 1934) was an American expert in sharing information with the public. He is known as one of the people who helped create modern public relations. Lee is most famous for his work with the Rockefeller Family.
He first worked with the Pennsylvania Railroad. Then he helped many other big railroads like the New York Central and the Union Pacific. He also helped create the Association of Railroad Executives. This group provided public relations services for the whole railroad industry. Lee gave advice to large companies in steel, cars, tobacco, and rubber. He also advised banks, utility companies, and even governments from other countries.
Lee was a pioneer in using special magazines to keep employees happy and informed. He also created newsletters for managers, reports for people who owned company shares, and news releases for the media. He did a lot of free work to help his own public image. During World War I, he became the publicity director for the American Red Cross.
Early Life and First Jobs
Ivy Lee was born near Cedartown, Georgia. His father, James Wideman Lee, was a Methodist minister. Ivy Lee studied at Emory College and then graduated from Princeton. He started his career as a newspaper reporter. He wrote for papers like the New York American, the New York Times, and the New York World.
In 1903, Lee got his first job as a publicity manager for the Citizens Union. He wrote a book called The Best Administration New York City Ever Had in 1903. Later, he worked for the Democratic National Committee. Lee married Cornelia Bartlett Bigalow in 1901. They had three children: Alice, James, and Ivy Jr.
In 1905, Lee started a public relations company called Parker and Lee with George Parker. This was the third public relations firm in the United States. They promised "Accuracy, Authenticity, and Interest" in their work. They had worked together before, handling publicity for Judge Alton Parker's presidential campaign in 1904. Parker lost that election to Theodore Roosevelt.
The Parker and Lee company lasted less than four years. But Ivy Lee became a very important person in public relations. In 1906, he wrote his Declaration of Principles. This was the first time someone said that public relations workers have a duty to the public, not just to their clients. In the same year, after a 1906 Atlantic City train wreck, Lee released what many call the first press release. He convinced the railroad company to share information with reporters before they could hear it from other sources.
In 1912, Lee was hired full-time by the Pennsylvania Railroad. He was one of the first public relations people to hold an executive-level job. He even wrote one of the first job descriptions for a Vice President of corporate public relations.
In 1919, he started his own public relations company, Ivy Lee & Associates. During World War I, Lee worked as a publicity director for the American Red Cross. He later became Assistant to the Chairman there.
Ivy Lee passed away in New York City at age 57 from a brain tumor.
Changing Public Relations
Many historians believe Lee started modern crisis communications. This is about how companies handle bad situations and talk to the public. Another important person in public relations was Edward Bernays. Lee also influenced Pendleton Dudley to join this new field.
In 1914, Lee began working on a much bigger project. He was hired by John D. Rockefeller Jr. to help his family and their company, Standard Oil. This was after a difficult coal mining strike in Colorado, known as the "Ludlow Massacre." Lee told the Rockefellers that people were losing trust in them. He created a plan for John D. Rockefeller Jr. to improve their image.
Rockefeller Jr. had to overcome his shyness. He went to Colorado to meet the miners and their families. He looked at their homes and workplaces. He attended social events and listened to their problems. All this time, he was photographed for news releases. This was new advice, and it got a lot of media attention. It helped to calm the conflict and show a more human side of the wealthy Rockefeller family.
Lee continued to guide the public relations for the Rockefellers and their businesses. He was very involved in building the Rockefeller Center. He even convinced John D. Rockefeller Jr. to name the center after the family, even though Rockefeller Jr. didn't want to at first.
In 1921, Lee became a founding member of the Council on Foreign Relations in the US. In the early 1920s, he worked to improve relations with Soviet Russia. In 1926, Lee wrote a famous letter to the president of the US Chamber of Commerce. In it, he argued strongly for the US to have normal political and economic relations with the Soviet Union.
Lee is famous for a piece of advice he supposedly gave to the Rockefeller family: "Tell the truth, because sooner or later the public will find out anyway. And if the public doesn't like what you are doing, change your policies and bring them into line with what people want." This quote became very well known.
Lee is seen as the father of the modern public relations campaign. From 1913 to 1914, he successfully convinced the government to allow a railroad rate increase.
Lee believed in a "two-way street" approach to public relations. This means that public relations involves helping clients listen to the public, as well as sending messages to them.
Lee also advised other countries and a German company during the early days of the Nazi government. This work put him in touch with party leaders. Shortly before he died in 1934, the US Congress was looking into his work in Germany for the company IG Farben. While working with this company, Lee spoke out against their use of Nazi propaganda. He might not have known that his advice was going directly to the Nazi government. He also might not have known that the company was quickly taken over by the government.
Lee also worked for the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. He famously advised managers there to list their most important tasks each day. He told them to work on these tasks in order of importance until their time ran out. They should not move on until a task was finished. For this advice, the company head, Charles M. Schwab, paid him $25,000. Schwab said it was the most helpful advice he had ever received. During his career, Lee also advised George Westinghouse, Charles Lindbergh, John W. Davis, Otto Kahn, and Walter Chrysler.
See also
- Spin
